Car-brake



(No Model.)

J. W. RICE.

6 CAR BRAKE.

No. 322,127. Y Patented July'14, 1885.

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. RICE, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 322,127, dated July 14, 1885.

' Application filed March 16, 1885. (No model.)

Massachusetts, have invented a new and use ful Improvement in Railway Oar-Brakes, of e which the following is a description and specification.

The object of my invention is to apply the power of a railway -car brake to the wheels of the car in the direction perpendicular to the length of the car, or on the top' of the carwheel and toward the trackrail, and to equalize the power in applying the brakes, so that all the brakes of the car or of all the cars in a train may be applied with equal and uniform pressure; and I accomplish this by the mechanism substantially as hereinafter described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure I is a plan View of a four-wheeled railway-car truck having my invention applied thereto, together with a representation of a part of the frame of a car, beneath which the trucks are secured, and showing also the double equalizing-lever pivoted tothe car beneath by which the whole systemof brakes on the car is operated and Fig. II is a vertical section of the same at line A of Fig. I.

In the drawings, 2 represents the frame of the oar-body, beneath and to which the truck is secured in the ordinary manner at the pivot, and 3 represents the truck-frame, the timbers 4 being also a part thereof extending in the direction of the length of the truck.

The arbors 9 have each a bearing at one end in the timber 4, and at the other end in the truck-frame 3, as shown in the drawings. A shaft, 16, has its bearing, at each end, in the timbers 4, and camor crank shafts 5, one for each pair of wheels. Each has a bearing in the timbers 4, as shown at'6 in Fig. I, and each shaft 5 is formed like a cam, crank, or eccentrio at each end, as shown clearly in the drawings.

A swinging brake-bar, 7, one for each wheel, has an eye formed at one end, through which extends its arbor 9, so that each brake-bar is hinged thereto and is adapted to swing freely above the car-wheel in a vertical direction upon its arbor 9, and the other end of each brakebarfi is of any convenient form (preferably a hooked shape) to engage with the cam or crank on the end of the shaft 5, so that when the said shaft is tilted or rocked in its bearings the cam or crank at each end thereof will raise or depress the end of the brake-bar 7 with which it engages, according as the said shaft is tilted or rocked in one directionor the other. V

The brakeshoes 8 are each of a suitable concaveform to fit approximately the tread of the brake-bars 7 by any convenient means, preferably by bolts or screws.

An equalizing-lever, 15, is provided with an elongated hole, 17, extending in the direction of the length of the truck or of the car;

upon said shaft tobe moved and tilted thereon.

An arm, 13, is firmly secured to each camshaft 5, and extends downward, with a rod or chain, 27, attached to the lower end of one, and extending and secured to the lower end of the equalizing-lever 15, and a similar rod or chain, 26, is attached to the lower end of the other arm 13 secured to the other cam-shaft, and extends and is attached to the equalizinglever 15 at a point above the shaft 16.

A double equalizing-lever, 20, is pivoted by a pin, 23, in ahanger, 21, which is provided with an elongated hole, 22, extending in the direction of the length of the car; and a rod or chain, 24, attached to each end of said lever 20 extends to and is secured to the brakestaff at each end of the car; or this double equalizing-lever 20 may be connected with the cylinders of an ordinary air-brake, these cyl-j inders being located at any convenient place beneath the car, as at 28 and29. A rod or side of its pivot 23, and is extended and atver 15 at each truck.

Springs 18, one at each end of the truck, are secured at any convenient point to the truck-frame 3, and the free end of each extends partially around and bears against the adjacent arm 13, and operates to move said arm (when the brake is not applied) in a direction to tilt or rock the cam-shaft 5, and throw the outer ends of the latter upward,

and the shaft 16 extends through this elon gated hole, so that the lever 15 is loosely hung tached to the upper end of the equalizing-lethe wheel, and are secured to the lowerside of 1 9 chain, 25, is attached to said lever 20 on either and raise the free end of each brake-bar 7 and hold the brake-shoes 8 away from contact-with the tread of the wheels, so that the latter may be free to revolve.

If the brake-staff at either or both ends of the ear be turned, and the rod or chain 24 be made to draw or move the double equalizing lever 20, the pin or pivot 23 of said lever will move along the elongated hole 22 until each rod or chain draws with equal force upon the upper end of the equalizing'lever of each truck, and each said equalizinglever 15 will also move upon its shaft 16 in its elongated hole 17 until all the rods or chains 27 and 26 draw with equal force upon all the arms 13 of the car or of the whole train of cars.

It is evident that all the brake-bars of the train may be operated simultaneously and with equal pressure by properly connecting the double equalizing-levers 20 or the equalizing-levers 15 by rods or chains.

I have mentioned both rods and chains as a medium for connecting the levers, because both would be operative for that purpose; but a chain would not be necessary except where flexibility is required, and a rod would be much cheaper.

By this system of verticallyswinging brakebars 7, hinged in a position directly above the wheels of a railway-car, all the power exerted in applying the brakes is brought to bear against the wheels in a direction perpendicular to that of the moving train, and is just so much force added to the weight of the car, whatever that may be, and operatesto clamp each wheel of the train firmly down upon the track -rail, increasing the traction of the wheels upon the rails, and preventing in a great degree the tendency of the wheels to slide upon the rails when the brakes are applied suddenly or with great force. This is a great advantage over the system of brakes applied horizontally in the ordinary manner, and prevents the excessive wearing of the wheels in irregular places at the tread, and the wheels last much longer.

. The brake-shoes may be made of any desirable material, and may be removed and others substituted with the greatest ease, when desirable.

This system may be applied with great advantage to street-cars, in which case it might be desirable to pivot the double equalizinglever 20 in a position beneath the car, so that one end of said lever may be connected with the brake-staff at one end of the car and the other end with the brake-staff at-the opposite end of the car by a rod or chain.

I am aware that equalizing-levers have heretofore been used in connection with a system of levers pivoted to the ordinary brake-beams of railway-car trucks, as shown in Letters Patent No. 280,244., granted to me June 26, 1883; but in that device no tilting or rocking cam-shaft is used to move the brake bar, and the whole power of the brake is exerted in a horizontal direction, and the traction of the wheels is not increased, but is rat-her diminished, whereas in this device no pulleys are used in the equalizinglevers, and consequently no chain is required in the brake-connections where the latter are in contact with the equalizinglevers, and much liability of break age and wear is thereby avoided. In the use of this device the traction of the wheels is increased during the application of the brake, and the pressure of the brake against the wheels being exerted in a vertical direction and operating to clamp the wheels vertically between the car and the rails, the brake-power against the wheels is almost unlimited, is easily controlled, and the whole power at all the brakes through the train is equalized and applied uniformly, and with equal pressure.

It will be seen that the double equalizinglever 20 and the equalizing-lever 15, both have an independent movement, bodily, to a limited extent when the power is applied to the brake-staff or to the cylinders of the airbrake to tilt the lever 20, each said lever sliding along upon its pivot until the connections are all taut and the power is equalized and uniformly distributed to all the connections in the system.

It is evident that instead of making the elongated hole 22 in the hanger 21, secured beneath the car, the double equalizing-lever 20 may be made sufficiently wide to make the elongated hole therein in the direction of its width, and the pivot-pin 28 be secured in the hanger and extend through such elongated hole in the lever, so that the latter may have the same independent movement in the direction of the length of the car, without departing in the least from the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 1. In a railway-car brake, an equalizinglever provided with an elongated hole, in combination with a shaft secured in the truckframe and extending through said elongated hole, and upon which shaft said equalizinglever is hung, and connecting-rods extending from said equalizing-lever to the brake mechanism of each pair of wheels, whereby the pressure of the brakes against all the wheels of the truck is made equal and uniform by the movement of said lever, substantially as described. a

2. In an improved railway-car brake, a double equalizing-lever pivoted in a hanger beneath the car and with its pivot extending through an elongated hole, so that said lever may have an independent movement in the direction of the length of the car, in combina tion with the connecting-rods extending from said double equalizing-lever to the brake-staff or mechanism for moving said lever, and also to the operating or equalizing lever pivoted to the truck-frame and connected with the brakes, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In an improved railway-car brake, a

cured in bearings and adapted to engage with and move the free end of each brake-bar in a vertical direction against the oar-wheel, and

connectingrods for connecting said brakebars with said equalizing-lever and the latter with the double equalizing-lever, for operating all the brakes simultaneously, substantially as described. a

JOHN W. RICE. Witnesses:

ROBERT O. MORRIS M. WELLs BRIDGE. 

